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Swiss company SmartData sues Apple over Apple TV, iPhone
Another company you've probably never heard of before today is after a slice of Apple's pie. This time it's Swiss company SmartData, who claims Apple is willfully infringing its patent on a "modular computer" with the Apple TV, iPhone, and Remote app. As noted by Electronista, SmartData doesn't seem to produce any products or have any clients, so this seems to be yet another case of a company seeking to make money solely off its patent portfolio. SmartData was reportedly in licensing talks with Apple as early as 2004, but the companies' communication abruptly ended two years later. Electronista classifies SmartData's claim as "somewhat tenuous," noting that nothing in the claim actually appears to apply to Apple's products. That, plus the fact that the claim was filed in Apple's San Jose court district rather than the plaintiff-friendly East Texas district, makes it far less likely that SmartData will succeed in its claim.
SITA and Orange develop NFC-based airport check-ins, let you bump the TSA (video)
You've been there before -- fumbling in-front of a non-enthused security agent, trying to download your fancy mobile boarding pass over an uncooperative network. It's that kind of awkwardness that SITA and Orange are trying to avoid with their NFC-based check-in solution. In their joint proof-of-concept, the duo embedded ticket credentials into an NFC-capable SIM card -- meaning phones without NFC circuitry can also use the tech -- which enables airport plebes to check-in, get through security, board planes and even enter lounges with just a wave of your phone. And because you're not futzing with loading a webpage, nor relying on a fussy image-based scanner, the tech should mean less time spent waiting at checkpoints. Writing that info onto the SIM has other advantages, as it can still be read even when your device runs out of juice. So, next time you're jet setting into Geneva -- you know, to deposit something totally non-nefarious into your Swiss bank account -- peep the demonstration area at SITA's HQ. Or, if you're not the globetrotting type, a video explaining all awaits after the break.
Plans confirm Swiss Apple Store
Slowly, but surely, Apple's plans to build a retail store in the Swiss city of Basel are beginning to shape up. As reported by ifoAppleStore, the site for the store was first spotted by Swiss bloggers almost two years ago. The bloggers at MacPrime.ch have now dug up blueprints confirming that Apple's architect has been busy revising plans to meet with city regulations. The original design showed a 30-foot tall glass curtain wall that encompassed the ground and mezzanine levels of the two-level store. These plans have been changed, now showing the existing building at Freie Strasse 47 being demolished and replaced with a completely new facility. The facade now covers only the first level, with the upper level using regular windows. When completed by early 2013, the Basel store would have about 7,500 square feet of retail space and 2,800 square feet for offices and stock room. The two levels of retail are connected in the plans by Apple's trademark glass staircase.
IBM sees stacked silicon sitting in fluid as the way to power future PCs
Generally, the combination of microchips, electricity and fluids is usually considered an incredibly bad thing. IBM, however, thinks it can combine those three to make super small and super powerful computers in the future. The idea is to stack hundreds of silicon wafers and utilize dual fluidic networks between them to create 3D processors. In such a setup, one network carries in charged fluid to power the chip, while the second carries away the same fluid after it has picked up heat from the active transistors. Of course, 3D chips are already on the way, and liquid cooled components are nothing new, but powering a PC by fluids instead of wires has never been done before. Bruno Michel, who's leading Big Blue's research team, has high hopes for the technology, because future processors will need the extra cooling and reduced power consumption it can provide. Michel says he and his colleagues have demonstrated that it's possible to use a liquid to transfer power via a network of fluidic channels, and they to plan build a working prototype chip by 2014. If successful, your smartphone could eventually contain the power of the Watson supercomputer. Chop, chop, fellas, those futuristic fluidic networks aren't going to build themselves.
Google's Street View takes to the rails in Switzerland
Google's Street View has made its way around the world and gone off the beaten path in a few places, but until now it hasn't hitched a ride to capture some scenery by rail. That picturesque view above comes from a section of the Albula / Bernina railway in Switzerland -- a UNESCO World Heritage site -- all 122 kilometers of which were recently mapped out and photographed by Google using its usual Street View camera gear. Unfortunately, while that part of the process is done, the results haven't yet made their way onto the internet -- you can apparently look for that to hit Google Maps in the coming months. In the meantime, you can check out the source link below for some more shots of the capturing in progress. [Thanks, Hanspeter]
Swiss iBookstore starts selling books
Our readers in Switzerland will be happy to hear that Apple has finally begun selling books in the Swiss iBookstore. Up until today, Apple has only had free Project Gutenberg books available for download. MacPrime.ch notes that currently there are a few hundred paid books on the Swiss iBookstore, including 71 works by Stephen King, some Dan Brown titles, and the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson (pre-order only). Books cost between 4 and 24 Swiss Francs, with most titles costing 7, 15, or 24 Francs. [Thanks, Steve]
CERN's LHC@home 2.0 project simulates a Large Hadron Collider in the cloud
"You break it, you bought it," came to mind when researchers at the Centre for European Nuclear Research (CERN) announced the LHC@home 2.0 project, giving us regular Joes access to the Large Hadron Collider. OK, we kid; the reality is that much like SETI@home and Folding@home, a whole group of volunteering home computers link up together, and while idle they quietly help simulate LHC particle collisions according to CERN's theoretical models. Scientists there then compare these results with those from actual LHC experiments in order to check for any instrumental or theoretical errors, thus potentially speeding up the mission to find the God particle in a low cost manner. Besides being a great way to get your science on, the cloud-based program also makes CERN's resources (like crisis mapping and damage assessment) available to researchers in developing nations that may not to be able to afford the accelerator's $6 billion dollar price tag -- but nowadays, what nation can?
Orange Switzerland is expecting Nokia's N9 on September 15th
Release date info for Nokia's sweet slab of Meego has been scarce, but now Orange Switzerland's webpage announces the N9 is coming its way September 15th. Last month Swedish carrier 3 Group promised it would arrive there September 23rd, while some retailer in Kazakhstan is apparently listing them for sale August 19th. We're not quite ready to whip out our passport and translator for a taste of the (not) zombie OS's brains yet, but we'll keep an eye out for any more release date information as it comes. [Thanks, StinkyFinger]
Google Maps brings live traffic coverage to 13 European countries, makes work weeks even shorter
The next time you head out for a leisurely Sunday drive along the autobahn, you might wanna take a minute to consult Google Maps' live traffic feature, now available in Germany and 12 other nations across Europe. Announced earlier this week, the new addition offers regularly updated coverage of all highways and major thoroughfares in countries like Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland, while bringing more detailed street-level data to users in the UK. Europe's road warriors will also be able to use a legend to learn about traffic patterns at specific times or days of the week, making it even easier for you to micro-manage your summer getaway to the Swiss Alps. Learning how to fit all your luggage into the back of a Twingo, however, is another matter altogether.
Hasselblad acquired by Ventizz Capital Fund, will explore 'brand new markets'
Change may be afoot over at Hasselblad, now that the high-end camera maker has been acquired by Ventizz Capital Fund IV -- a private equity firm based in Switzerland and Germany. Neither party disclosed any financial details, but Ventizz said it will implement "no major structural or key management changes" at its newly acquired company. It remains to be seen whether or not this acquisition brings about any changes at the strategic level, though Hasselblad CEO Larry Hansen said his company is looking forward to exploring "brand new markets" -- including, we hope, the "sub-$10,000" one. Full PR after the break. [Thanks, Rene]
Nokia's online stores go offline in France and Spain (update: Netherlands too)
Nokia's "around breakeven" outlook announced earlier today is discouraging at best, and now it looks like the company has begun shuttering online stores in response to growing competition from resellers, which offer lower prices on the same hardware. So far, online stores in France and Spain have been replaced with a closure notice, so customers in those countries will need to turn to third-party vendors to get their smartphone fix. European online stores in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, and the UK remain open for business, but low online sales figures (and the inevitable death of Symbian) mean we may see more countries falling offline in the near future. "Prices are too subsidized by the carriers and sales were low, so they will keep providing support," a representative from Nokia Spain told us today, so as expected, the shutdown only affects sales operations -- of course, you'll still be able to turn to your local Nokia site for support. Update: The Netherlands store is closed too [Thanks, Reppu]
Inhabitat's Week in Green: hydrogen-powered space plane, Japan's solar surge and urban farms of Ze Future
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Green transportation took off for the stars this week as Inhabitat reported that the European Space Agency has approved of a new hydrogen-powered "Skylon" space plane, and we spotted a hot Star Wars-inspired electric chopper that wouldn't look out of place on the Death Star. We also learned that NASA plans to rejoin the space race with a new MPCV craft fit for deep space flights, while here on Earth we saw GE harness the power of the sun to charge Volt EVs before they hit dealerships. Speaking of solar power, Japan unveiled plans to construct 10 new solar power plants in the wake of the Fukushima Nuclear Crisis, while Switzerland announced that it will completely phase out the use of nuclear power. We also showcased a stunning chandelier made from 500 fluttering photovoltaic butterflies, and we saw Nevada kick-start construction on the US' first molten salt solar plant, which will generate energy long after the sun has set. We also brought you several incredible feats of architecture this week, from a restaurant made from a recycled Soviet airplane in Zurich to an innovative cocoon-like building made from sugarcane that recently won an AIA competition. We also showed how Plantlab is making vertical urban farms a reality, and we spotted a sky-high proposal for an energy-generating city on stilts that would hover over Manhattan. Finally, this week we rounded up some of our favorite eco apps and services that can help you green your consumption.
Tenacious robot ashamed of creator's performance, shows mankind how it's done (video)
Looks like researchers have made another step towards taking Skynet live: giving robots the groundwork for gloating. A Swiss team of misguided geniuses have developed learning algorithms that allow robot-kind to learn from human mistakes. Earthlings guide the robot through a flawed attempt at completing a task, such as catapulting a ball into a paper basket; the machine then extrapolates its goal, what went wrong in the human-guided example, and how to succeed, via trial and error. Rather than presuming human demonstrations represent a job well done, this new algorithm assumes all human examples are failures, ultimately using their bad examples to help the 'bot one-up its creators. Thankfully, the new algorithm is only being used with a single hyper-learning appendage; heaven forbid it should ever learn how to use the robot-internet.
Samsung's Galaxy S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 now rolling out to countries far away from you
While Samsung has yet to announce an actual date for its new Galaxy Players in the US, their international counterparts are already heading towards other parts of the world for a head start. The Galaxy S WiFi 4.0 is said to be debuting in Russia followed by other countries, whereas its 5.0 sibling will be launched in Switzerland. In terms of specs, not much has changed since we last saw these 1GHz, DivX-friendly Android PMPs, and yes, they'll still be shipped with Froyo "with a possibility to upgrade to 2.3 Gingerbread." As always, we'll let you folks know when we eventually find out about the US launch (if ever), though to be frank, we'd rather just go for the beefier Galaxy S II instead.
Switzerland leads in Mac market share around the world
The official Pingdom blog did a little research into Mac market share around the world according to StatCounter (all based on browser visits to a pretty solid sample of 3 million websites), and it turns out that Switzerland is the most Mac country in the world. OS X has a 17.61 percent market share there, making it the country with the highest share on the planet. We've actually heard this before -- the Macworld Expo has been to Switzerland, and there are a number of terrific Apple Stores in that country as well. The Swiss really love their quality computers, apparently. Luxembourg follows next on the list, and the United States comes in at third with 15.36 percent Mac share. The United Kingdom, strangely, didn't make it into the top 10 of the list at all, and the Mac share in Asia, where Apple is making big pushes lately, is only 1.61 percent. Granted, one percent of a couple billion computers is still a lot, but you'd expect that to grow over the next few years. The least Mac-savvy region in the entire world? South America, where Mac OS X, according to these numbers, claims only a 1.08 percent market share. Looks like more of our friends to the south will have to look into just how enjoyable using a Mac can be. [via 9to5Mac]
Research shocker! Keyless car entry systems can be hacked easily, elegantly
We know you are vigilant enough not to trust your car's security to a wireless system, but plenty of other folks like the convenience of putting away the metallic keys and getting into their vehicles with a bit of Bond-like swagger. Professor Srdjan Capkun of ETH Zurich found himself perched on the fence between these two groups when he recently purchased a vehicle with a keyless entry system, so he did what any good researcher would: he tried to bypass its security measures. In total, he and his team tested 10 models from eight car makers and their results were pretty conclusive: each of the tested vehicles was broken into and driven away using a very simple and elegant method. Keyless entry systems typically work by sending a low-powered signal from the car to your key fob, with the two working only when they're near each other, but the wily Zurich profs were able to intercept and extend that signal via antennas acting as repeaters, resulting in your key activating your car even when it's nowhere near it. The signal-repeating antennae have to be pretty close to both the key and the car, but that's why heist movies stress the importance of teamwork. Hit the source link for all the chilling details.
Stereoscopic copy-paste finally brings that clone tool into the third dimension (video)
With the right software anybody can be photo editing guru, eliminating redeye, removing unsightly blemishes, and maybe adding an image of Godzilla lurking in the background just for fun. However, if you've been unlucky enough to try to do the same in 3D you know just how distinctly unsatisfying that experience can be. Maybe not for long. Thanks to NewScientist we just caught a glimpse of an October presentation made by Swiss engineers Joren van Baar and Wan-Yen Lo called "Stereoscopic 3D Copy & Paste." It is, basically, exactly what it sounds like, tools that let you define various objects and planes on a stereoscopic image, similar to how you might grab a shape with the magic wand tool, and then duplicate it and move that shape around on both parts of the 3D photo. The software handles re-creating shadows, automatically tackling occlusion too, and while the results aren't perfect, particularly if you're trying to change perspective or partially occlude an object behind something that's transparent, it certainly trumps trying to do it by hand. Check out the video below and take a moment to be thankful that you didn't have to buy gifts for all those kids above.
Quadrocopters enter the Flying Machine Arena, must bounce a ping-pong ball to survive (video)
We don't need another hero. We don't need to know the way home. All we want is life beyond the Flying Machine Arena, a test ground at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) where quadrocopters can learn new abilities and stretch their fan blades without injuring too many scientists. One such new ability is juggling balls -- well, one ball, anyway. This particular quadrocopter has learned to identify a ping-pong ball and is quite adept at keeping it in the air while the robot itself stays flying. Interestingly the last project we heard about from ETH also involved table tennis, so hopefully the next one involves a full-scale humanoid player that won't stop hunting until it has crushed every opponent.
Ubisoft to shoulder Rift's European publishing
With Rift's launch looming closer by the day, forces are coming into play faster now than ever before. Trion Worlds has announced that it is partnering with Ubisoft to publish Rift in Europe. Ubisoft, which has studios in countries all across the globe, will be tasked with releasing the game in France, Benelux, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Nordics. This deal includes multiple years of service starting in 2011. While Ubisoft has handled smaller MMOs, such as Might and Magic Heroes Kingdom, Rift represents the largest MMO client to date for the company. Trion Worlds' CEO Lars Buttler sees this as a great move for the game: "To join forces with an industry leader such as Ubisoft on our first title further demonstrates the potential Rift has to be a game-changer in the online gaming space. We are thrilled to be working with Ubisoft, one of world's leading publishers, as we reaffirm our commitment to deliver quality products to gamers around the world." While Ubisoft is not without its fair share of controversies, no one can deny that the publisher has clout across the market. Rift's closed beta starts later this week, and all signs still point toward an early 2011 release.
Pac-Man glows 'green' in Switzerland's Festival of Trees and Lights
With a few simple additions, artists Benedetto Bufalino and Benedict Deseille turned Geneva, Switzerland's Festival Arbres et Lumières ("Festival of Trees and Lights") into a festival of trees, lights and ... ghosts. The artists added giant Pac-Man characters to an existing string of public pellets lights, creating an installation that requires no extra energy consumption. Pac-Man, of course, looks to be in dire need of some power -- in power pellet form -- in this chase scene, also from the festival, photographed by DeviantArtist Attila-le-Ain.
